Description: Donation of Betty Ford dress to collection of First Ladies gowns at National Museum of History and Technology, now known as National Museum of American History, with Frankie Welch, fashion designer, First Lady Betty Ford, and Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, 76-7870-11A.
Description: Polly Willman, Conservator of Costumes, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, 1988–99, supervised staff and treated costume and textile objects for the museum’s major exhibitions, including for the redesign of the First Ladies Hall. #Groundbreaker
Description: Deputy Chair of political history at the National Museum of American History, Lisa Kathleen Graddy, chooses artifacts to represent the American political landscape, and has curated popular exhibits on the first ladies and the women's suffrage movement. #Groundbreaker
Description: Construction of Angelica Van Buren mannequin for First Ladies Hall exhibition at National Museum of History and Technology, now known as the National Museum of American History, November 1972, SIA Acc. 11-009, 73-1221-25A.
Description: The National Museum of American History first opened to the public in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. In 1980, a bill signed by President Jimmy Carter changed the museum’s name to the National Museum of American History. The postcards in this gallery show objects on display at the museum, as well as views of the building. Some objects that are now in the National